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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Nancy Babbitt <nbabbitt2003@mac.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] from Alton Brown (TV chef) Edible News E. coli 0157:H7
  • Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 09:17:03 -0400

Paul,

Yes, especially here in the north, where nothing grows in the winter - we'd have to exist on stored root vegetables and winter squash and apples and pears as long as they held out, if we didn't preserve in some way - canning, drying, lacto-fermenting, salting, smoking, root cellaring. So I agree that eating in season is not just what is growing locally at that moment, but what is locally available in your area at that moment. But for us northerners trying to eat local, knowing what you can cook up using pumpkin, other than pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, is a good thing to know, as is a variety of recipes for apples, pears, potatoes and the like. (So many young people just don't know how to cook!)

Canning, unless you are firing up a source of wood heat, consumes a great deal of fuel, most likely fossil fuel. Although I suspect home canning uses less fuel than the food that has been canned and transported thousands of miles. I began pressure canning this year, see it as a necessary if I want to eat strictly local and homegrown veggies. I do not wish to keep a freezer for things that can well. Again, it's energy consumption, and a power failure can cause me to lose my food. So, canning certainly has it's benefits.

I've heard that Hubbard squash is becoming rare. That's too bad. I view it as a very valuable vegetable. They will stay fresh (unspoiled) until spring. I have kept some into March/April. Now that's a good long time for something not canned, or frozen.

Nancy


On Oct 1, 2006, at 11:42 PM, TradingPostPaul wrote:


Good work. Those suggestions always welcome, Nancy. One item caught my eye,
the one about local growers offering things you can't find in the
supermarket. We got some Sugar Loaf Delicata squash up the road, and then
looked for it while out grocery shopping today. Trader Joe's didn't have
any, nor Sunflower Market that had a very wide range of produce.
http://www.sfmarkets.com/ and of course the major chains aren't even worth
checking.

That said, we might question what is and is not seasonal. We realize that
shipping fresh fruit 2,000 miles for Xmas is a real stretch - inherently
unsustainable. But when we put up preserves or store winter squash for
January, is that wrong because it's eaten out of season? Surely not. I'd
argue that locally grown and preserved produce is always in season.
Likewise, the bolita beans we just got from the farm up the road will be in
season as long as it takes to go through the bag. I don't think seasonal
means having to eat stuff only when it's naturally harvested in the
locality. Properly understood, seasonal eating shouldn't be so hard to
learn.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 10/1/2006 at 3:35 PM Nancy Babbitt wrote:

Ah, yes. Eat local & in season. It's one thing to know that we
SHOULD eat this way, and quite another to learn how. Not until more
people know how, will they actually be able to do it.

I purchased a new cookbook, Simply in Season is the title.

Simply in Season features eating and using local, seasonal foods like
our grandparents did in wholesome, delicious dishes. Today most
people make no connection with the time of year and season to place
or location of food. And, unfortunately, if they wanted to, most
wouldn't know how. Through stories and simple whole food recipes,
Simply in Season, helps to make these connections.

Six reasons to eat simply in season

Freshness - Locally grown fruits and vegetables are usually harvested
the same day as they are purchased. Produce from across the country
can't be that fresh.

Taste - Produce picked and eaten at the height of freshness has more
flavor. Taste the difference.

Nutrition - Fresh, fully ripe produce contains more nutrients than
food that is past its peak of freshness or was harvested before it
ripened fully.

Variety - Farmers selling locally are not limited to the few
varieties that are bred for long distance shipping, high yields, and
shelf life. Often they raise and sell wonderful unusual varieties you
will never find on supermarket shelves.

Environment - The environmental impacts of growing and shipping
produce, sometimes halfway around the world, are enormous.

Local Health - Buying seasonal produce from your farmers' market or
from neighborhood farms supports your local economy, increasing the
local quality of life for everyone.

I'd love to know of other such books. Another favorite cookbook of
mine is More With Less cookbook. It has many recipes from scratch,
from simple ingredients - a skill that many young people do not have,
and could benefit from. We'd all benefit.

Simply in Season is a cookbook that, in my opinion, all small farmers
should offer for sale to their customers along with their produce.
The Weston A Price Foundation (westonaprice.org) promotes a
Traditional diet, which includes the concept of eating locally and in-
season. Some might be interested in this organization.

Forgive me, if these suggestions have already been posted, I do not
have enough free time to read all posts that come through.

Nancy



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